Tim Conway Takes a Reaaally Slow Tumble in Lost 'Carol Burnett Show' Clip
We know this to be true: All you ever need to know about how to be funny in life can be gleaned from Bugs Bunny cartoons, Marx Brothers movies, Michael J. Fox’s performance as Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties, and repeated viewings of The Carol Burnett Show.
Proof of that last one: the video above, an exclusive clip from Time Life’s new DVD box set The Carol Burnett Show: The Lost Episodes, a 22-disc collection that includes 45 episodes of the classic 1967-78 variety series that haven’t been seen since they originally aired. In the Season 3 snippet above, Tim Conway debuts his beloved “Oldest Man” character, and takes Oldest Man’s trademark sweet time when he tumbles down the stairs in the soap parody As the Stomach Turns.
Not only does the gem highlight Conway’s physical comedy genius — which viewers would come to appreciate in other Conway classics like Mr. Tudball and Simba the lion, too — but it shows another favorite aspect of watching Burnett and her co-stars perform: their habit of cracking each other up. Harvey Korman as Dr. Hoffer is visibly shaking as he tries to stifle his laughter, while Burnett, as the Oldest Man’s granddaughter Marian, has to hide her face behind a dress. “Tim proceeded to fall down the stairs in slow motion!” Burnett says. “Harvey and I had a rough time keeping our self-control. Some viewers wrote in thinking we had ‘slowed down the camera.’ Not so. It was Tim’s doing, all the way.”
The Carol Burnett Show: The Lost Episodes is available to order now at TimeLife.com
